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Reflections on a Passing Year

First of all: Happy Thanksgiving!

November? So soon… what do you mean it is mid November already? I am still thinking like it should be summer. At least the weather validates my time slip, because it is unseasonably hot even for Tucson.

You reckon I am disoriented because of that day I lost, and then had shoved back into my life when I went down under? I mean, how can I loose an entire day for three months and not have it disorient me? A missing day, I mean a whole 24 hours zapped from existence. Just to have it slammed back in my face by having to live two Thursdays back to back – talk about weird.

Seriously, I started the week of September the 13th, 2009 like any other week – like all weeks for an American my week begins on Sunday and ends seven days later on Saturday, but that week for me was actually 8 days long (I think it was the week the Beatles sang about) because my week wound up going like this:

I spent the morning of Thursday the 17th of September, 2009 in Sydney Australia – I remember, I had bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then I spent Thursday evening on a plane to LA – this really was Thursday the 17th of September, 2009, I know I checked the calendar. And yet… on Thursday morning the 17th of September, 2009 I ate breakfast in Los Angeles, CA, took a nap in North Hollywood and went to a milonga on the evening of Thursday the 17th of September, 2009 with the Los Angeles Tango Club – no for real! I lived two Thursdays on the 17th of September, 2009.

But honestly that isn’t really why I am lost in time. I am lost in time because this will be my third winter this year… oh no, don’t get me started again…

I am lost in time because I love my life, and the more I love it the faster it slips out from under me. It makes me think that perhaps I should sit around sticking needles in my eye so that I become miserable and time goes by ever so slowly… or… I could repeat a mistake I made in 1979 and re-marry the meanest woman on the planet, that sure made 6 years of my life go by more slowly than a snail crawling through oil… but if I did all that stupid $#!& again I wouldn’t be loving my life so much, now would I?

Quite the conundrum this loving your life stuff is, because it is so joyful and moving so quickly that it is happening at warp speed – and why not? – everything is just so damn good!

This past year was amazing. I spent 3 months in Australia, I spent time in Denver, Chicago, San Diego, LA, Santa Monica and now we are fixing to zip off to Ashland, OR then San Diego, CA again for the New Year. No wonder life is going by so quickly. My dear sweet Joanne and I are constantly busy. And if it means my life is over quicker than a bored or suffering man’s life, then so be it. Because I know one thing for certain mate, as Don Juan said to Carlos Castaneda: “Look around you, there are no survivors!”

All I can say is it has been a spectacular year! It is a spectacular life and it all just keeps getting better and better. As my eyes fill with wrinkles, my heart fills with gratitude. I am a blessed man filled with joy, love and gratitude for all the blessings, gifts and friends I have around me!

Thank you everyone for allowing me to share my joy with you! I try very hard not to ponder the whys of my existence any more. I live like I am financially rich and I love like I just fell in love – yet I have very little money and I have loved now for over half a century… wow! This is living! Thanks for sharing this with me!